Aycoth said the redistricting plan Rowan-Salisbury school board members passed 4-3 last week will affect all families — not just those whose children must transfer.

And to overturn the plan, families from all districts are going to have to work.

“I may not be (personally) affected and my kids may not be affected, but we all are affected,” said Aycoth, a West Rowan High School graduate and retired Air Force pilot and hospital administrator who returned to Rowan County two years ago.

“This is a west Rowan family issue and what they are actually trying to do is destroy that family,” he said.

Parents filled rows of metal chairs in the cinderblock Locke fire station Thursday night. They passed around forms they plan to present to school board members next Thursday to initiate hearings through the schools’ grievance procedure.

And they pledged a total of $28,500 to challenge the school board in court.

Many parents say West Rowan High and Middle schools could lose as much as 75 percent of their financial and volunteer support for athletic booster, ROTC, PTA and other organizations. That’s because most of that support comes from five wealthier, growing neighborhoods close to Salisbury that are affected by the plan. Those are Glen Heather, Hidden Hut, Homestead Hills, Summerfield and Windmill Ridge.

Parents criticized school board member Vick Bost — who was not at the meeting — for what they called a tactic to avoid public scrutiny of the redistricting plan. Bost, who holds the Salisbury seat on the board, said he solicited votes from other members before last Tuesday’s split vote for the plan. Because he met with other members individually and not as a group, such meetings and conversations are legal under state law. Other states, however, outlaw such private lobbying.

“Vick Bost,” Aycoth said to roaring applause, “you made a blatant tactical blunder. Nobody breaks up a family without a fight.”

Parents plan to give grievance forms to representatives in their neighborhoods. The representatives will present them to school system administrators next Thursday at 4:30 p.m.

“What we’d really like to do is flood the school board with grievances,” Aycoth said. “If we collectively voice our opinion and we state the pure facts, you’ll see how much consensus we can have.”

The parents may not get the desired response.

Under the system’s 1999-2000 Student-Parent Handbook and Code of Conduct, a committee of three school board members must respond to formal grievances within 10 days in a public hearing. Parents have within 90 days to file such grievances after an act occurs. The committee currently consists of Vick Bost, Bruce Jones and Ada Fisher.

But the handbook defines such grievances as “suspensions of more than 10 days, expulsions, denials of promotion or high school course credit due to attendance, issues related to Title 6, Title 9 or Section 504, and appeals.” Nowhere does it mention grievances include complaints about redistricting actions.

“I don’t know that we have a grievance procedure for something like” redistricting, school system spokeswoman Cathy Walters said.

Some parents Thursday night wanted to know the likelihood of winning a lawsuit against the school system before pledging money to retain attorneys. “I know it’s just a pledge, but that’s still our word,” one mother said.

Others were more confident.

“I wrote down an amount, but I want you to know Iwill give whatever it takes,” said Monica Dillon, whose son goes to West Rowan Middle School. “Don’t get discouraged. The money will be there.”

Reached Thursday morning, West Rowan High Principal Henry Kluttz said the redistricting plan will claim many of the volunteers who raised $200,000 through concession sales at games and a golf tournament for the weightlifting and wrestling rooms at his school.

“One swipe of a pen took all that (support) away from me,” said Kluttz, who was not at the meeting. “This is a major change, and it’s so late in the ball game. I don’t even know how I’m going to register kids for next year.

“Taking out those five neighborhoods would have an immeasurable impact on us. You’re losing that cadre of folks who want their children to do really well.

“ ... Delaying a year would at least let people know where they stand and decide where they want to live.”

Construction business owner Chris Cohen said the 32 athletic teams at West Rowan High — where he’s treasurer of the athletic booster club — will receive much less support.

Unlike other high school districts, West Rowan High gets almost no support from area businesses. Freightliner, Rowan County’s largest employer, gives nothing to the school, and KoSa gives only $200 a year, he said.

“It’s not only revenue,” Cohen said. “It’s the volunteer helpers ... I don’t know how we’re going to survive.

“I’m not going to say we’ll have to cut teams, but they may have to go in mended uniforms. They may not get as many awards. They’re pretty much taking our entire soccer team to Salisbury.”

Actually, the redistricting plan grandfathers all students at their current schools. Only students entering middle or high school for the first time would have to attend new schools.

Many parents in west Rowan County say the school system shouldn’t plan to send students to Southeast Middle School in the fall because it won’t be completed in time. The school is supposed to house 720 students.

Others said the plan would cost more for busing at a time when gas prices are soaring and the school board has only budgeted a 10 percent increase for the fiscal year starting July 1.

The plan would cost more, they said, because buses would have to take middle-school students south of Salisbury, not only to West Rowan Middle but to the new Southeast Middle.

Rowan County commissioners Newton Cohen and Arnold Chamberlain vowed not to support any new school building projects until they get clear answers about how the redistricting plan will affect the schools.

Cohen, the commissioners chairman, said the entire redistricting debate rings back to when Salisbury schools wanted to merge with Rowan County schools to bring more white students into their own system of primarily African-American students. Not one person at Thursday night’s gathering was black.

“They wanted more white students in their schools because they didn’t have many,” said Cohen, who is seeking re-election this year. “Now isn’t that what this is all about?”

For others, the plan is just a city versus county issue. Residents of those subdivision along N.C. 150 have fought for years the city of Salisbury’s effort to annex their neighborhoods and only recently defeated the city in court.